Every state has their own requirements for maintaining a position as a lawyer, and California is no different. In California, it is required for bar members to maintain compliance according to MCLE educational requirements. In this state, the requirement calls for 25 hours in a 36-month compliance period. Want to learn more about maintaining educational standards on the bar? This guide will help you.

Regular MCLE Requirements

Every three years, California bar members must complete 25 hours of approved activities to qualify. This includes a maximum self-study limit of 12.5 hours. There are several special requirements within the required hours. For instance, four hours must be dedicated to legal ethics and one hour must be dedicated to competence issues. Lawyers are also required to take an hour of study that focuses on elimination of bias in the legal profession.

Types of Self-Study Sections

The State Bar offers several online CLE articles. These online articles are available as self-study sections, and each article plus 20 questions counts as one hour. In order to receive the article and questions, lawyers must simply pay $15 per piece. In a single reporting period, lawyers can earn up to 12.5 hours of credit via self-study. Some of the available sessions include topics like the insider threat of hacking and changes to the laws that the new year may bring. Some self-study courses also look into cognitive decline of attorneys as they age, while others delve into diversity and mental illness.

Reporting Compliance with Standards

The reporting date is based on your last name. If your last name starts with letters A through G, your compliance deadline was February of 2016 for deadlines ranging from February 2013 to January 2016. Group 1 faces a late penalty of $75 for not meeting compliance standards, and attorneys can report that they have met the standards via their State Bar profiles online.

The next compliance date is Group 3, which encompasses those with the last name starting with N through Z. The compliance period includes the time between February 2014 and January 2017. The deadline is February 1st, 2017.

Group 2 has a compliance deadline of February 1st, 2018. The group with the last name starting with letters H through M covers February  2015 through January 2018.

The role of courses like these is to provide you with ongoing and advanced knowledge that keeps you up to date on changes to the law frequently.

Share